Editing Stress (linguistics)

{{Short description|Linguistic emphasis on syllables or words}}
{{Distinguish|Accent (sociolinguistics)}}
{{Other uses|Stress (disambiguation){{!}}Stress}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Primary stress
| ipa symbol = ˈ◌
| ipa number =501
| decimal1   =712
}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Secondary stress
| ipa symbol = ˌ◌
| ipa number =502
| decimal2   =716
}}
{{IPA notice}}

In [[linguistics]], and particularly [[phonology]], '''stress''' or '''accent''' is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain [[syllable]] in a [[word]] or to a certain word in a phrase or [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased [[loudness]] and [[vowel length]], full articulation of the [[vowel]], and changes in [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fry |first=D.B. |date=1955 |title=Duration and intensity as physical correlates of linguistic stress |journal=Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=765–768 |doi=10.1121/1.1908022|bibcode=1955ASAJ...27..765F }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fry |first=D.B. |date=1958 |title=Experiments in the perception of stress |journal=Language and Speech |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=126–152 |doi=10.1177/002383095800100207|s2cid=141158933 }}</ref> The terms ''stress'' and ''accent'' are often used synonymously in that context but are sometimes distinguished. For example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called ''[[Pitch-accent language|pitch accent]]'', and when produced through length alone, it is called ''quantitative accent''.<ref name="Monrad">{{Cite journal |last=Monrad-Krohn |first=G. H. |date=1947 |title=The prosodic quality of speech and its disorders (a brief survey from a neurologist's point of view) |journal=Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica |volume=22 |issue=3–4 |pages=255–269 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0447.1947.tb08246.x|s2cid=146712090 }}</ref> When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is called ''stress accent'' or ''dynamic accent''; English uses what is called ''variable stress accent''.

Since stress can be realised through a wide range of [[Phonetics|phonetic]] properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch (which are also used for other linguistic functions), it is difficult to define stress solely phonetically.

The stress placed on syllables within words is called '''word stress'''. Some languages have ''fixed stress'', meaning that the stress on virtually any multisyllable word falls on a particular syllable, such as the [[penult]]imate (e.g. [[Polish language|Polish]]) or the first (e.g. [[Finnish language|Finnish]]). Other languages, like [[Stress and vowel reduction in English|English]] and [[Russian language|Russian]], have ''lexical stress'', where the position of stress in a word is not predictable in that way but lexically encoded. Sometimes more than one level of stress, such as ''primary stress'' and ''[[secondary stress]]'', may be identified.

Stress is not necessarily a feature of all languages: some, such as [[French language|French]] and [[Standard Chinese phonology|Mandarin Chinese]], are sometimes analyzed as lacking lexical stress entirely.

The stress placed on words within sentences is called '''sentence stress''' or '''prosodic stress'''. That is one of the three components of [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]], along with [[Isochrony|rhythm]] and [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]. It includes '''phrasal stress''' (the default emphasis of certain words within [[phrase (linguistics)|phrases]] or [[clause]]s), and '''contrastive stress''' (used to highlight an item, a word or part of a word, that is given particular focus).

== Phonetic realization ==
There are various ways in which stress manifests itself in the speech stream, and they depend to some extent on which language is being spoken. Stressed syllables are often [[loudness|louder]] than non-stressed syllables, and they may have a higher or lower [[pitch (music)|pitch]]. They may also sometimes be pronounced [[vowel length|longer]]. There are sometimes differences in [[Place of articulation|place]] or [[manner of articulation]]. In particular, vowels in unstressed syllables may have a more central (or "[[neutral vowel|neutral]]") articulation, and those in stressed syllables have a more peripheral articulation. Stress may be realized to varying degrees on different words in a sentence; sometimes, the difference is minimal between the acoustic signals of stressed and those of unstressed syllables.

Those particular distinguishing features of stress, or types of prominence in which particular features are dominant, are sometimes referred to as particular types of accent: ''dynamic accent'' in the case of loudness, ''[[pitch-accent language|pitch accent]]'' in the case of pitch (although that term usually has more specialized meanings), ''quantitative accent'' in the case of length,<ref name="Monrad" /> and ''qualitative accent'' in the case of differences in articulation. They can be compared to the various types of [[accent (music)|accents in music theory]]. In some contexts, the term ''stress'' or ''stress accent'' specifically means dynamic accent (or as an antonym to ''pitch accent'' in its various meanings).

A prominent syllable or word is said to be ''accented'' or ''tonic''; the latter term does not imply that it carries [[phonemic tone]]. Other syllables or words are said to be ''unaccented'' or ''atonic''. Syllables are frequently said to be in ''pretonic'' or ''post-tonic'' position, and certain phonological rules apply specifically to such positions. For instance, in [[American English]], /t/ and /d/ are [[intervocalic alveolar flapping|flapped]] in post-tonic position.

In [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]], which is a [[tonal language]], stressed syllables have been found to have tones that are realized with a relatively large swing in [[fundamental frequency]], and unstressed syllables typically have smaller swings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kochanski |first1=Greg |last2=Shih |first2=Chilin |last3=Jing |first3=Hongyan |date=2003 |title=Quantitative measurement of prosodic strength in Mandarin |journal=Speech Communication |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=625–645 |doi=10.1016/S0167-6393(03)00100-6|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9f72e144-ab3b-4fe2-af3d-a3d233472728/download_file?safe_filename=Quantitative%2Bmeasurement%2Bof%2Bprosodic%2Bstrength%2Bin%2BMandarin&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Journal+article }}</ref> (See also [[Stress in Standard Chinese]].)

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables.

== Word stress ==
Word stress, or sometimes ''lexical stress'', is the stress placed on a given syllable in a word. The position of word stress in a word may depend on certain general rules applicable in the language or [[dialect]] in question, but in other languages, it must be learned for each word, as it is largely unpredictable, for example [[Stress and vowel reduction in English|in English]]. In some cases, classes of words in a language differ in their stress properties; for example, [[loanword]]s into a language with ''fixed'' stress may preserve stress placement from the source language, or the [[sezer stress|special pattern for Turkish placenames]].

===Non-phonemic stress===
In some languages, the placement of stress can be determined by rules. It is thus not a [[Phoneme|phonemic property]] of the word, because it can always be predicted by applying the rules.

Languages in which the position of the stress can usually be predicted by a simple rule are said to have ''fixed stress''. For example, in [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]], the stress almost always comes on the first syllable of a word. In [[Armenian Language|Armenian]] the stress is on the last syllable of a word.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mirakyan |first=Norayr |date=2016 |title=The Implications of Prosodic Differences Between English and Armenian |url=http://www.ysu.am/files/SSS_BookCollect_3_2016,%20pp.%2091-96.pdf |journal=Collection of Scientific Articles of YSU SSS |publisher=YSU Press |volume=1.3 |issue=13 |pages= 91–96 }}</ref> In [[Quechua language|Quechua]], [[Esperanto]], and [[Polish language|Polish]], the stress is almost always on the [[penult]] (second-last syllable). In [[stress in Macedonian language|Macedonian]], it is on the [[antepenult]] (third-last syllable).

Other languages have stress placed on different syllables but in a predictable way, as in [[Classical Arabic]] and [[Latin]], where stress is conditioned by the [[syllable weight|weight]] of particular syllables. They are said to have a regular stress rule.

Statements about the position of stress are sometimes affected by the fact that when a word is spoken in isolation, prosodic factors (see below) come into play, which do not apply when the word is spoken normally within a sentence. [[French phonology|French]] words are sometimes said to be stressed on the final syllable, but that can be attributed to the [[#Prosodic stress|prosodic stress]], which is placed on the last syllable (unless it is a [[schwa]] in which case the stress is placed on the second-last syllable) of any string of words in that language. Thus, it is on the last syllable of a word analyzed in isolation. The situation is [[stress in Standard Chinese|similar in Mandarin Chinese]]. French and [[Georgian phonology|Georgian]] (and, according to some authors, Mandarin Chinese)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Phonology of Standard Chinese |first=San |last=Duanmu |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |pages=134}}</ref> can be considered to have no real lexical stress.

===Phonemic stress===
With some exceptions above, languages such as [[Germanic languages]], [[Romance languages]], the [[East Slavic languages|East]] and [[South Slavic languages]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Greek language|Greek]], as well as others, in which the position of stress in a word is not fully predictable, are said to have ''phonemic stress''.  Stress in these languages is usually truly lexical and must be memorized as part of the pronunciation of an individual word. In some languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Lakota language|Lakota]] and, to some extent, Italian, stress is even represented in writing using diacritical marks, for example in the Spanish words {{lang|es|c'''é'''lebre}} and {{lang|es|celebr'''é'''}}. Sometimes, stress is fixed for all forms of a particular word, or it can fall on different syllables in different inflections of the same word.

In such languages with phonemic stress, the position of stress can serve to distinguish otherwise identical words. For example, the English words ''insight'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|n|s|aɪ|t}}) and ''incite'' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|n|ˈ|s|aɪ|t}}) are distinguished in pronunciation only by the fact that the stress falls on the first syllable in the former and on the second syllable in the latter. Examples from other languages include [[German language|German]] {{lang|de|[[wikt:Tenor#German|Tenor]]}} ({{IPA|de|ˈteːnoːɐ̯|}} {{Gloss|gist of message}} vs. {{IPA|de|teˈnoːɐ̯|}} {{Gloss|tenor voice}}); and [[Italian language|Italian]] {{lang|it|[[wikt:ancora#Italian|ancora]]}} ({{IPA|it|ˈaŋkora|}} {{Gloss|anchor}} vs. {{IPA|it|aŋˈkoːra|}} {{Gloss|more, still, yet, again}}).

In many languages with lexical stress, it is [[#Stress and vowel reduction|connected with alternations in vowels and/or consonants]], which means that vowel quality differs by whether vowels are stressed or unstressed. There may also be limitations on certain phonemes in the language in which stress determines whether they are allowed to occur in a particular syllable or not. That is the case with most examples [[Stress and vowel reduction in English|in English]] and occurs systematically [[Vowel reduction in Russian|in Russian]], such as {{lang|ru|за́мок}} ({{IPA|ru|ˈzamək|}}, {{Gloss|castle}}) vs. {{lang|ru|замо́к}} ({{IPA|ru|zɐˈmok|}}, {{Gloss|lock}}); and [[Portuguese phonology#Vowel alternation|in Portuguese]], such as the triplet {{lang|pt|sábia}} ({{IPA|pt|ˈsaβjɐ|}}, {{Gloss|wise woman}}), {{lang|pt|sabia}} ({{IPA|pt|sɐˈβiɐ|}}, {{Gloss|knew}}), {{lang|pt|sabiá}} ({{IPA|pt|sɐˈβja|}}, {{Gloss|thrush}}).

Dialects of the same language may have different stress placement. For instance, the English word ''laboratory'' is stressed on the second syllable in [[British English]] (''labóratory'' often pronounced "labóratry", the second ''o'' being silent), but the first syllable in [[American English]], with a secondary stress on the "tor" syllable (''láboratory'' often pronounced "lábratory"). The Spanish word {{lang|es|video}} is stressed on the first syllable in Spain ({{lang|es-ES|v'''í'''deo}}) but on the second syllable in the Americas ({{lang|es-019|vid'''e'''o}}). The Portuguese words for [[Madagascar]] and the continent [[Oceania]] are stressed on the third syllable in [[European Portuguese]] ({{lang|pt-PT|Madag'''á'''scar}} and {{lang|pt-PT|Oce'''â'''nia}}), but on the fourth syllable in [[Brazilian Portuguese]] ({{lang|pt-BR|Madagasc'''a'''r}} and {{lang|pt-BR|Ocean'''i'''a}}).

===Compounds===
With very few exceptions, English [[compound (linguistics)|compound words]] are stressed on their first component. Even the exceptions, such as ''mankínd'',<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mankind "mankind"] in the Collins English Dictionary.</ref> are instead often stressed on the first component by some people or in some kinds of English.<ref>{{Cite web |title=mankind |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=mankind |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=The American Heritage Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins}}</ref> The same components as those of a compound word are sometimes used in a descriptive phrase with a different meaning and with stress on both words, but that descriptive phrase is then not usually considered a compound: ''bláck bírd'' (any bird that is black) and ''bláckbird'' (a [[common blackbird|specific bird species]]) and ''páper bág'' (a bag made of paper) and ''páper bag'' (very rarely used for a bag for carrying newspapers but often also used for a bag made of paper).<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/paper-bag "paper bag"] in the Collins English Dictionary</ref>

=== Levels of stress ===
{{Further|Secondary stress}}
Some languages are described as having both ''primary stress'' and ''secondary stress''. A syllable with secondary stress is stressed relative to unstressed syllables but not as strongly as a syllable with primary stress. As with primary stress, the position of secondary stress may be more or less predictable depending on language. In English, it is not fully predictable, but the different secondary stress of the words ''organization'' and ''accumulation'' (on the first and second syllable, respectively) is predictable due to the same stress of the verbs ''órganize'' and ''accúmulate''. In some analyses, for example the one found in Chomsky and Halle's ''[[The Sound Pattern of English]]'', English has been described as having four levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but the treatments often disagree with one another.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} <!--English secondary stress does not have the phonetic characteristics normally associated with stress, [surely not true in general?] -->

[[Peter Ladefoged]] and other phoneticians have noted that it is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as prosody is recognized and [[unstressed vowel|unstressed syllables]] are phonemically distinguished for [[vowel reduction]].<ref name=Lad>Ladefoged (1975 ''etc.'') ''[[A course in phonetics]]'' §&nbsp;5.4; (1980) ''Preliminaries to linguistic phonetics'' p 83</ref> They find that the multiple levels posited for English, whether ''primary–secondary'' or ''primary–secondary–tertiary'', are not [[phonetic]] stress (let alone [[phoneme|phonemic]]), and that the supposed secondary/tertiary stress is not characterized by the increase in respiratory activity associated with primary/secondary stress in English and other languages. (For further detail see [[Stress and vowel reduction in English]].)

== Prosodic stress ==
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Extra stress
| ipa symbol = ˈˈ◌
}}
''[[Prosody (linguistics)|Prosodic]] stress'', or ''sentence stress'', refers to stress patterns that apply at a higher level than the individual word – namely within a [[prosodic unit]]. It may involve a certain natural stress pattern characteristic of a given language, but may also involve the placing of emphasis on particular words because of their relative importance (contrastive stress).

An example of a natural prosodic stress pattern is that described for [[French language|French]] above; stress is placed on the final syllable of a string of words (or if that is a [[schwa]], the next-to-final syllable). A similar pattern is found in English (see {{slink||Levels of stress}} above): the traditional distinction between (lexical) primary and secondary stress is replaced partly by a prosodic rule stating that the final stressed syllable in a phrase is given additional stress. (A word spoken alone becomes such a phrase, hence such prosodic stress may appear to be lexical if the pronunciation of words is analyzed in a standalone context rather than within phrases.)

Another type of prosodic stress pattern is ''quantity sensitivity'' – in some languages additional stress tends to be placed on syllables that are longer ([[mora (linguistics)|moraically heavy]]).

Prosodic stress is also often used [[pragmatics|pragmatically]] to emphasize (focus attention on) particular words or the ideas associated with them. Doing this can change or clarify the meaning of a sentence; for example:

{{block indent|<poem>''I'' didn't take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)
I ''didn't'' take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)
I didn't ''take'' the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.)
I didn't take ''the'' test yesterday. (I took one of several, ''or'' I didn't take the specific test that would have been implied.)
I didn't take the ''test'' yesterday. (I took something else.)
I didn't take the test ''yesterday''. (I took it some other day.)</poem>}}

As in the examples above, stress is normally transcribed as [[italic type|italics]] in printed text or underlining in handwriting.

In English, stress is most dramatically realized on focused or accented words. For instance, consider the dialogue

{{block indent|<poem>"Is it brunch tomorrow?"
"No, it's ''dinner'' tomorrow."</poem>}}

In it, the stress-related acoustic differences between the syllables of ''tomorrow'' would be small compared to the differences between the syllables of ''dinner'', the emphasized word. In these emphasized words, stressed syllables such as ''din'' in ''din''ner are louder and longer.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Stress and Non-Stress Accent |last=Beckman |first=Mary E. |date=1986 |publisher=Foris |isbn=90-6765-243-1 |location=Dordrecht}}</ref><ref>R. Silipo and S. Greenberg, [http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~steveng/PDF/ICPhS.pdf Automatic Transcription of Prosodic Stress for Spontaneous English Discourse], Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS99), San Francisco, CA, August 1999, pages 2351–2354</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kochanski |first1=G. |last2=Grabe |first2=E. |last3=Coleman |first3=J. |last4=Rosner |first4=B. |date=2005 |title=Loudness predicts prominence: Fundamental frequency lends little |journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=1038–1054 |doi=10.1121/1.1923349|pmid=16158659 |bibcode=2005ASAJ..118.1038K |s2cid=405045 |doi-access=free }}</ref> They may also have a different fundamental frequency, or other properties.

The main stress within a sentence, often found on the last stressed word, is called the ''nuclear stress''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Thematic Structure: Its Role in Grammar |last=Roca |first=Iggy |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1992 |pages=80}}</ref>

== Stress and vowel reduction ==
In many languages, such as [[Russian phonology|Russian]] and [[English phonology|English]], [[vowel reduction]] may occur when a vowel changes from a stressed to an unstressed position. In English, unstressed vowels may reduce to [[schwa]]-like vowels, though the details vary with dialect (see [[stress and vowel reduction in English]]). The effect may be dependent on lexical stress (for example, the unstressed first syllable of the word ''photographer'' contains a schwa {{IPAc-en|f|ə|ˈ|t|ɒ|ɡ|r|ə|f|ər}}, whereas the stressed first syllable of ''photograph'' does not {{IPA|/ˈfoʊtəˌɡræf -ɡrɑːf/}}), or on prosodic stress (for example, the word ''of'' is pronounced with a schwa when it is unstressed within a sentence, but not when it is stressed).

Many other languages, such as [[Spoken Finnish|Finnish]] and the mainstream dialects of [[Spanish language|Spanish]], do not have unstressed vowel reduction; in these languages vowels in unstressed syllables have nearly the same quality as those in stressed syllables.

== Stress and rhythm ==
{{Main|Isochrony}}
Some languages, such as [[English language|English]], are said to be ''[[stress-timed language]]s''; that is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly constant rate and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate that, which contrasts with languages that have ''syllable timing'' (e.g. [[Spanish language|Spanish]]) or ''[[Mora (linguistics)|mora]] timing'' (e.g. [[Japanese language|Japanese]]), whose syllables or moras are spoken at a roughly constant rate regardless of stress.

== Historical effects ==
It is common for stressed and unstressed syllables to behave differently as a language evolves. For example, in the [[Romance languages]], the original Latin [[vowel length|short vowels]] {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} have often become [[diphthong]]s when stressed. Since stress takes part in [[verb]] conjugation, that has produced verbs with [[apophony|vowel alternation]] in the Romance languages. For example, the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] verb {{lang|es|volver}} (to return, come back) has the form {{lang|es|v'''o'''lví}} in the past tense but {{lang|es|v'''ue'''lvo}} in the present tense (see [[Spanish irregular verbs]]). [[Italian language|Italian]] shows the same phenomenon but with {{IPA|/o/}} alternating with {{IPA|/uo/}} instead. That behavior is not confined to verbs; note for example Spanish {{lang|es|v'''ie'''nto}} {{Gloss|wind}} from Latin {{lang|la|v'''e'''ntum}}, or Italian {{lang|it|f'''uo'''co}} {{Gloss|fire}} from Latin {{lang|la|f'''o'''cum}}. There are also examples in French, though they are less systematic : {{Lang|fr|v'''ie'''ns}} from Latin {{Lang|la|venio}} where the first syllable was stressed, vs {{Lang|fr|v'''e'''nir}} from Latin {{Lang|la|venire}} where the main stress was on the penultimate syllable.

== Stress "deafness" ==
An operational definition of word stress may be provided by the stress "deafness" paradigm<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dupoux |first1=Emmanuel |last2=Peperkamp |first2=Sharon |last3=Sebastián-Gallés |first3=Núria |date=2001 |title=A robust method to study stress "deafness" |journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=1606–1618 |bibcode=2001ASAJ..110.1606D |doi=10.1121/1.1380437 |pmid=11572370}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Rahmani |first1=Hamed |last2=Rietveld |first2=Toni |last3=Gussenhoven |first3=Carlos |date=2015-12-07 |title=Stress "Deafness" Reveals Absence of Lexical Marking of Stress or Tone in the Adult Grammar |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=10 |issue=12 |pages=e0143968 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1043968R |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0143968 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4671725 |pmid=26642328 |doi-access=free}}</ref> first developed by Dupoux, [[Sharon Peperkamp|Peperkamp]] & Sebastián-Gallés (2001). The idea is that if listeners perform poorly on reproducing the presentation order of series of stimuli that minimally differ in the position of phonetic prominence (e.g. {{IPA|[númi]/[numí]}}), the language does not have word stress. The task involves a reproduction of the order of stimuli as a sequence of key strokes, whereby key "1" is associated with one stress location (e.g. {{IPA|[númi]}}) and key "2" with the other (e.g. {{IPA|[numí]}}). A trial may be from two to six stimuli in length. Thus, the order {{IPA|[númi-númi-numí-númi]}} is to be reproduced as "1121". It was found that listeners whose native language was French performed significantly worse than Spanish listeners in reproducing the stress patterns by key strokes. The explanation is that Spanish has lexically contrastive stress, as evidenced by the [[minimal pair]]s like {{lang|es|topo}} ({{Gloss|mole}}) and {{lang|es|topó}} ({{Gloss|[he/she/it] met}}), while in French, stress does not convey lexical information and there is no equivalent of stress minimal pairs as in Spanish.

An important case of stress "deafness" relates to [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name=":0" /> The language has generally been described as having contrastive word stress or accent as evidenced by numerous stem and stem–clitic minimal pairs such as {{IPA|/mɒhi/|lang=fa}} {{IPA|[mɒ.hí]||lang=fa}} ({{Gloss|fish}}) and {{IPA|/mɒh-i/|lang=fa}} {{IPA|[mɒ́.hi]|lang=fa}} ({{Gloss|some month}}). The authors argue that the reason why Persian listeners are "stress-deaf" is that their accent locations arise postlexically. Persian thus lacks stress in the strict sense.

Stress "deafness" has been studied for a number of languages, such as Polish<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Domahs |first1=Ulrike |last2=Knaus |first2=Johannes |last3=Orzechowska |first3=Paula |last4=Wiese |first4=Richard |date=2012 |title=Stress 'deafness' in a language with fixed word stress: an ERP study on Polish |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=3|page=439 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00439 |pmid=23125839 |pmc=3485581 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and French learners of Spanish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dupoux |first1=Emmanuel |last2=Sebastián-Gallés |first2=N |last3=Navarrete |first3=E |last4=Peperkamp |first4=Sharon |date=2008 |title=Persistent stress 'deafness': The case of French learners of Spanish |journal=Cognition |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=682–706|doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2007.04.001 |pmid=17592731 |hdl=11577/2714082 |s2cid=2632741 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== {{Anchor|Notation}} Spelling and notation for stress ==
The [[orthography|orthographies]] of some languages include devices for indicating the position of lexical stress. Some examples are listed below:
* In [[Greek language|Modern Greek]], all [[polysyllable]]s are written with an [[acute accent]] ({{IPA|´}}) over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (The acute accent is also used on some [[monosyllable]]s in order to distinguish [[homograph]]s, as in {{lang|el|η}}<!--Used as a word, not as a letter--> ('the') and {{lang|el|ή}} ('or'); here the stress of the two words is the same.)
* In [[Spanish language|Spanish orthography]], stress may be written explicitly with a single acute accent on a vowel. Stressed antepenultimate syllables are always written with that accent mark, as in {{lang|es|árabe}}. If the last syllable is stressed, the accent mark is used if the word ends in the letters ''n'', ''s'', or a vowel, as in {{lang|es|está}}. If the penultimate syllable is stressed, the accent is used if the word ends in any other letter, as in {{lang|es|cárcel}}. That is, if a word is written without an accent mark, the stress is on the penult if the last letter is a vowel, ''n'', or ''s'', but on the final syllable if the word ends in any other letter. However, as in Greek, the acute accent is also used for some words to distinguish various syntactical uses (e.g. {{lang|es|té}} 'tea' vs. {{lang|es|te}} a form of the pronoun {{lang|es|tú}} 'you'; {{lang|es|dónde}} 'where' as a pronoun or ''wh''-complement, {{lang|es|donde}} 'where' as an adverb). {{crossreference|For more information, see [[Stress in Spanish]].}}
* [[Catalan orthography|Catalan and Valencian orthographies]] use the acute and [[grave accent]]s to mark both stress and vowel quality. An acute on {{angbr|é ó}} indicates that the vowel is stressed and [[close-mid]] ({{IPA|/e o/}}), while grave on {{angbr|è ò}} indicates that the vowel is stressed and [[open-mid]] ({{IPA|/ɛ ɔ/}}). Grave on {{angbr|à}} and acute on {{angbr|í ú}} simply indicate that the vowels are stressed. Thus, the acute is used on close or close-mid vowels, and the grave on open or open-mid vowels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=Max W.|year=2005|title=The Phonology Of Catalan|place=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-925814-7|page=6}}</ref>
* In [[Filipino orthography]] (which also applies to other [[Philippine languages]]), an acute accent is used to distinguish similar words with distinct definitions. The position of the stress may occur in first, middle or final syllable of a word. Stress that occurs in the first syllable serves as the default word and is usually left unwritten e.g. {{lang|tag|pito}} ('whistle') which distinguishes from {{lang|tag|pitó}} ('seven'). Diacritics in Modern [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] and other Philippine languages are rarely used in writing, cases of which the diacritical marks are used can only be seen in formal and academic setting. Vowels with an acute accent are not included in the [[Filipino alphabet]], possible combinations include: á,é,í,ó and ú.
* In [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Portuguese phonology#Stress|stress]] is sometimes indicated explicitly with an acute accent (for ''i'', ''u'', and open ''a'', ''e'', ''o''), or circumflex (for close ''a'', ''e'', ''o''). The orthography has an [[Portuguese orthography#Diacritics|extensive set of rules]] that describe the placement of diacritics, based on the position of the stressed syllable and the surrounding letters.
* In [[Italian language|Italian]], the grave accent is needed in words ending with an accented vowel, e.g. {{lang|it|città}}, 'city', and in some monosyllabic words that might otherwise be confused with other words, like {{lang|it|là}} ('there') and {{lang|it|la}} ('the'). It is optional for it to be written on any vowel if there is a possibility of misunderstanding, such as {{lang|it|condomìni}} ('condominiums') and {{lang|it|condòmini}} ('joint owners'). {{crossreference|See {{slink|Italian alphabet|Diacritics}}.}} (In this particular case, a frequent one in which diacritics present themselves, the difference of accents is caused by the fall of the second "i" from Latin in Italian, typical of the genitive, in the first noun (con/domìnìi/, meaning {{Gloss|of the owner}}); while the second was derived from the nominative (con/dòmini/, meaning simply {{Gloss|owners}})). The acute accent may be used on {{angbr|é}} and {{angbr|ó}} to represent [[close-mid vowel]]s when they are stressed. Since final {{angbr|o}} is hardly ever close-mid, {{angbr|ó}} is very rarely encountered in written Italian (e.g. {{Wikt-lang|it|metró}} 'subway'). The two different accents may be used to differentiate [[minimal pair]]s within Italian (for example {{Wikt-lang|it|pesca|pèsca}} 'peach' vs. {{Wikt-lang|it|pesca|pésca}} 'fishing'), but in practice this is limited to didactic texts.
* [[Maltese orthography]] indicates stress with grave accent.

Though not part of normal orthography, a number of devices exist that are used by linguists and others to indicate the position of stress (and [[syllabification]] in some cases) when it is desirable to do so. Some of these are listed here.
* Most commonly, the '''stress mark''' is placed before the beginning of the stressed syllable, where a syllable is definable. However, it is occasionally placed immediately before the vowel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Payne |first=Elinor M. |date=2005 |title=Phonetic variation in Italian consonant gemination |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=153–181 |doi=10.1017/S0025100305002240|s2cid=144935892 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f7138910-b1cb-45e0-9c55-16cc40b928ac }}</ref> In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), primary stress is indicated by a high vertical line ('''primary stress mark''': <code>{{IPA|ˈ}}</code>) before the stressed element, secondary stress by a low vertical line ('''secondary stress mark''': <code>{{IPA|ˌ}}</code>). For example, {{IPA|[sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən]}} or {{IPA|/sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən/}}. Extra stress can be indicated by doubling the symbol: {{IPA|ˈˈ◌}}.
* Linguists frequently mark primary stress with an acute accent over the vowel, and secondary stress by a grave accent. Example: {{IPA|[sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən]}} or {{IPA|/sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən/}}. That has the advantage of not requiring a decision about syllable boundaries.
* In English dictionaries that show pronunciation by [[respelling]], stress is typically marked with a [[Prime (symbol)|prime mark]] placed after the stressed syllable: /si-lab′-ə-fi-kay′-shən/.
* In {{lang|la|[[ad hoc]]}} pronunciation guides, stress is often indicated using a combination of bold text and capital letters. For example, si-'''lab'''-if-i-'''KAY'''-shun or si-LAB-if-i-KAY-shun
* {{anchor|Znak udareniya|Znak udareniye|Znaki udareniya|Znaki udareniye|Udareniya|Udareniye|reason=These terms redirect here.}}In [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] dictionaries, stress is indicated with marks called {{lang|ru-Latn|znaki udareniya}}<!--This seems to be the "canonical" plural.--> ({{lang|ru|[[w:ru:знак ударения|знаки ударения]]}}, 'stress marks'). Primary stress is indicated with an [[acute accent]] (´) on a syllable's vowel (example: {{lang|uk|вимовля́ння}}).<ref name="lopatin">{{cite book |editor1-last=Лопатин |editor1-first=Владимир Владимирович |script-title=ru:Правила русской орфографии и пунктуации. Полный академический справочник |date=2009 |publisher=Эксмо |isbn=978-5-699-18553-5 |language=ru |script-chapter=ru:§ 116. Знак ударения}}</ref><ref>Some [[Russian Revolution|pre-revolutionary]] dictionaries, e.g. Dahl's ''Explanatory Dictionary'', marked stress with an apostrophe just after the vowel (example: {{lang|ru|гла'сная}}). See: {{cite book |last=Dahl |first=Vladimir Ivanovich |author-link=Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl |editor-last=Boduen de Kurtene |editor-first=Ivan Aleksandrovich |editor-link=Jan Baudouin de Courtenay |script-title=ru:Толко́вый слова́рь живо́го великору́сского языка́ |trans-title=[[Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language]] |language=ru |edition=3rd |date=1903 |publisher=M.O. Wolf |location=Saint Petersburg |page=4}}</ref> [[Secondary stress]] may be unmarked or marked with a grave accent: {{lang|ru|о̀колозе́мный}}. If the acute accent sign is unavailable for technical reasons, stress can be marked by making the vowel capitalized or italic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Каплунов |first1=Денис |script-title=ru:Бизнес-копирайтинг: Как писать серьезные тексты для серьезных людей |date=2015 |isbn=978-5-000-57471-3 |page=389 |language=ru}}</ref> In general texts, stress marks are rare, typically used either when required for disambiguation of [[homograph]]s (compare {{lang|ru|в больши́х количествах}} 'in great quantities', and {{lang|ru|в бо́льших количествах}} 'in great{{em|er}} quantities'), or in rare words and names that are likely to be mispronounced. Materials for foreign learners may have stress marks throughout the text.<ref name="lopatin" />
* In [[Dutch language|Dutch]], {{lang|la|ad hoc}} indication of stress is usually marked by an acute accent on the vowel (or, in the case of a [[diphthong]] or double vowel, the first two vowels) of the stressed syllable. Compare {{lang|nl|achterúítgang}} ('deterioration') and {{lang|nl|áchteruitgang}} ('rear exit').
* In [[Biblical Hebrew]], a complex system of [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]] marks is used to mark stress, as well as verse syntax and the melody according to which the verse is chanted in ceremonial Bible reading. In [[Modern Hebrew]], there is no standardized way to mark the stress. Most often, the cantillation mark {{lang|he-Latn|oleh}} (part of {{lang|he-Latn|oleh ve-yored}}), which looks like a left-pointing arrow above the consonant of the stressed syllable, for example {{lang|he|ב֫וקר|rtl=yes}} {{lang|he-Latn|bóqer}} ('morning') as opposed to {{lang|he|בוק֫ר|rtl=yes}} {{lang|he-Latn|boqér}} ('cowboy'). That mark is usually used in books by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and is available on the standard Hebrew keyboard at AltGr-6. In some books, other marks, such as {{lang|he-Latn|[[meteg]]}}, are used.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Aharoni|first=Amir|date=2020-12-02|title=אז איך נציין את מקום הטעם|url=https://www.ruvik.co.il/%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%97/2020/%D7%90%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%98%D7%A2%D7%9D.aspx|access-date=2021-11-25|language=he|website=הזירה הלשונית – רוביק רוזנטל}}</ref>

== See also ==<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
* [[Accent (poetry)]]
* [[Accent (music)]]
* [[Foot (prosody)]]
* [[Initial-stress-derived noun]]
* [[Pitch accent (intonation)]]
* [[Phonetic word]]
* [[Rhythm]]
* [[Syllable weight]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.let.uu.nl/~Rene.Kager/personal/Cambridge-Handbook-2007.pdf "Feet and Metrical Stress"], ''The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology''
* [http://linguapress.com/grammar/word-stress.htm "Word stress in English: Six Basic Rules"], ''Linguapress''
* [http://www.wordstress.info/ ''Word Stress Rules: A Guide to Word and Sentence Stress Rules for English Learners and Teachers''],  based on affixation

{{Suprasegmentals}}
{{Nonverbal communication}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Stress (linguistics)| ]]
[[Category:Phonetics]]
[[Category:Phonology]]
[[Category:Poetic rhythm]]